DELEO AND ROTHSTEIN: Massachusetts strikes a blow for civic education

Robert DeLeo and Steven M. Rothstein

Saturday

Dec 15, 2018 at 3:01 AMDec 15, 2018 at 7:34 AM

On a crisp November morning this fall, students from Quincy High School gathered at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum in Boston to discuss the Cold War. It was a lesson in leadership in a building dedicated to the principles President John F. Kennedy set forth when he asked all Americans to take ownership of their government by getting more involved. That morning spent with students, legislators and educators was a celebration – of sorts – in the name of a new Massachusetts civic education law.

Two days after the mid-term elections on Nov. 8, "An Act to promote and enhance civic engagement," a bipartisan civic education bill became law. As a result, roughly 1 million Massachusetts students will receive more comprehensive, hands on civic instruction.

And it’s a significant milestone as the data about civic knowledge among young students show gaping holes. Only 23 percent of American eighth graders are proficient or advanced in civics, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress. That means that 77 percent of eighth graders nationwide have only a basic or below understanding of our government and how it works.

We believe, as many others do, an informed citizen is an engaged citizen.

The goal of this legislation was simple: “To prepare students, morally and intellectually, for the duties of citizenship.” By helping them to understand how our government operates, we empower our students to step in, speak up and get involved in community, municipal, state and federal government.

The passage of this law itself was a lesson in civics. Three factors contributed to its success. There were strong legislative champions. There was thoughtful and coordinated advocacy. Finally, a nationwide shift in political awareness thrust the bill into a larger conversation.

Moving this legislation forward was a champion in House of Representatives: Education Committee Co-Chair Alice Peisch who with the House bill sponsor Rep. Linda Campbell worked with her colleagues in the Senate, especially Senate President Emerita Harriett Chandler, to move this initiative forward. Governor Charlie Baker also played an important role in this process.

While the idea of civics education requirements have been proposed in different forms over the years, a new coalition of more than 20 advocacy groups –including the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation, the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the U.S. Senate, Generation Citizen, iCivics, Discovering Justice, AJC New England, ENGAGE, Facing History & Ourselves, League of Women Voters of Massachusetts, Mass Center for Civic Education, JFK Hyannis Museum, The Boston Foundation, and UTEC Lowell, Boston Debate League, Mass Council for Social Studies, Tisch School at Tufts, Newton North Center for Civic Engagement, Youth on Board and many others – banded together to champion a set of unified proposals. The Massachusetts Civic Learning Coalition worked alongside legislators and state officials to come up with standards and requirements all could agree too.

Those include fundamental knowledge about government, rights of citizenship, branches of government, the electoral process and the roles and responsibilities of a citizen in a democracy.

In part, the new law promotes students’ ability to reason and support claims using valid evidence, focuses on critical thinking and development of skills to analyze and evaluate written and digital media, and establishes the Commonwealth Civics Challenge providing a statewide showcase for promoting student-led civics projects.

Finally, there were larger societal forces that drove this effort. Amidst our national political climate of division, this initiative gained momentum from those calling to counteract the incivility of the current discourse about government and the media.

The result was a bicameral, non-partisan piece of legislation that was embraced by legislators, state and municipal officials, educators and organizations as diverse as the Mass Civic Learning Coalition, the Massachusetts High School Democrats and the Massachusetts High School Republicans.

“No country can possibly move ahead, no free society can possibly be sustained, unless it has an educated citizenry whose qualities of mind and heart permit it to take part in the complicated and increasingly sophisticated decisions that pour not only upon the President and upon the Congress, but upon all the citizens who exercise the ultimate power,” said President Kennedy on June 6, 1963.

This effort is not about any one political party. This is about educating our next generation of citizens. Massachusetts is home to the American Revolution, making it the perfect place to revere the importance of civic education.

Robert A. DeLeo, left, is speaker of the Massachusetts House. Steven M. Rothstein is executive director of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation

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